Mastodawn

Nov 17, 2022

JOURNALISM 101 RULE: If someone says it’s raining, and another person says it’s dry, it’s not your job to quote them both. Your job is to look out of the fucking window and find out which is true. — Now more than ever.

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WesDym Nov 18, 2022

@Strandjunker I'd call this an over-simplification, in the "not even wrong" vein.

'Journalism' covers a lot of duties, one of which is reporting pretty much anything that any public figure says, no matter how asinine. The fact they said it is news all by itself, independent of truth or decency. The public have a right to know what leaders say, however stupid.

New ANALYSIS is related, but separate. This seems to be what's being addressed here, but not all news is analysis.

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pagangod (he/him)Apr 2, 2023

@wesdym @Strandjunker If a public figure says something asinine, one can report that the figure is being asinine and lying foremost, and only footnote what they were claiming, rather than featuring what they were claiming and footnoting the "disagreement".

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WesDym Apr 2, 2023

@pagangod Then that's not reporting, but offering opinion. Two different things. You can do that, yes, and there is media specifically for that (op-ed), but it's not reporting. Reporting is objective and does not include opinion.

You're arguing that there should be no such thing as objective reporting.

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pagangod (he/him)Apr 3, 2023

@wesdym Leaving aside the "asinine", lying is objective and factual. You can objectively report that someone is lying, and that their lying is the factual story. You can support that reporting with what they were lying about, what they said, and what other people say.
I guess it is "opinion" that a brazen lie that is easy to verify is a lie and obviously self-serving is asinine. It might also be opinion to speculate about why they are lying.

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pagangod (he/him)Apr 3, 2023

@wesdym It is my opinion that implying that the only objective reporting is parroting what people say is asinine. Back to the rain example. Reporting that it is raining (at a specific place and time) is objective. Reporting that people are lying about it is also objective. Reporting that people disagree about whether it is raining without pointing out who is lying is propaganda.

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WesDym

@pagangod But that's what "reporting" IS. You're confusing reporting with opinion. Opinions can be true, but reporting must be provably factual.

I think part of your confusion may be because a lot of news-LIKE media is really much more opinion than reporting. A guy sits at a desk like a reporter would, but he's expressing opinions, and in a way that sounds a bit news-like. But that's not actually reporting.